Welcoming New Patients in Townsville

We’ll do our best to make you and your family feel comfortable and relaxed when you visit our Townsville clinic.

It’s important that we have all the information we need about your current and past state of health, any medications you’re taking, and your history of operations and dental treatments. That’s why we’ll ask you to fill in a new patient form, which you can also download here.

Your personal information is kept strictly confidential and will not be divulged to anyone without your express permission.

Your first general dental visit

Our first priority is your overall health and wellbeing. That’s why we’ll perform a comprehensive oral health assessment to check that your teeth and gums are healthy. This evaluation may include full mouth charting, x-rays, photographs and sometimes creating study models of your mouth to help us with diagnosis and treatment planning.

Your dentist will then discuss any treatments that could help to improve your oral health, or cosmetic treatments you’re interested in to modify your smile. We’ll make sure you have all the information you need to make your decision, including any costs and risks involved, and we’ll work with you to develop your personalised treatment plan.

If you do choose to have a treatment, we’ll arrange a follow-up appointment.

Your first orthodontic visit

If you’re visiting us to discuss an orthodontic issue, your consultation and diagnosis will involve 3 appointments:

1. Rebate-only consultation

During your initial general dentistry visit, we’ll give you or your child a complete oral health assessment to determine if orthodontic treatment is necessary at this time. If you could benefit from orthodontic treatment, we may take some head and jaw x-rays during this appointment to help our diagnosis.

2. Records appointment

To make a thorough diagnosis and plan your treatment effectively, we need to take complete records of your mouth and jaw. This includes orthodontic models for tooth size analysis, extra-oral and intra-oral photographs and x-ray analysis, jaw analysis, postural analysis and airway analysis.

The fee for this appointment is $380.50, payable on the day of the appointment. Item Numbers used – 071×2, 072, 073, 081, 082, 963, 037 and 013. If convenient, this may be done at the same time as your initial consultation.

3. Consultant appointment

During your third appointment, we’ll review your records and discuss your treatment plan with you. You’ll have the chance to ask any questions you may have, and we’ll make sure you have all the information you need about treatment times, costs and anything else. There is no charge for this appointment.

We understand that some people have anxiety about going to the dentist and dental treatments. At North Queensland Family Dental, we work hard to make your time at our clinic as comfortable and pleasant as possible, so you might even find you start to enjoy visiting us!

Dental fear and phobia can prevent some people from getting the dental care they need, and this can have serious consequences for their oral health. When you don’t visit your dentist for your regular check-ups, we won’t have the chance to catch any problems while they’re still small and easy to treat – so you might end up needing a more complex dental treatment in the future.

Our friendly team will help you to feel at ease, and we’ve designed our clinic to be a comfortable and relaxing environment. You can listen to your favourite music to help you feel calm or distract you during your treatment, or we can provide you with an iPod and headphones. Our clinicians have a friendly and caring chair-side manner, and we use a specially compounded numbing gel for most procedures to take away pain and discomfort.

If you have dental anxiety, we can discuss the sedation options we offer at your consultation.

Oral sedation

If you feel nervous about your treatment, or if your appointment is likely to involve long or complex surgery, we can prescribe oral medication such as an anti-anxiety or sleeping pill. This should be taken prior to your dental appointment to help you relax.

You should not drive after taking oral sedation. You will need to be accompanied to and from your appointment by a responsible adult.

Happy gas

For very anxious patients, we can provide nitrous oxide (happy gas) during your treatment. This is a colourless and odourless gas that quickly causes relaxation and a mild feeling of euphoria. You will still be conscious during your treatment, but you may feel light-headed or even get the giggles.

The effects of happy gas only lasts while the gas is being breathed in. As soon as it stops, the effects wear off quickly and completely. You may even drive or go back to work straight after your appointment.